This invention relates generally to automotive electric cigar lighter devices, and more particularly to a tool for facilitating the installation of such devices in the automobile dashboard, or at other locations in the vehicle.
In the past a number of arrangements have been devised for securing cigar lighter assemblages to a dashboard, and also more recently in the arm rests of some of the later vehicles. Typically such cigar lighter devices involve a removable ignitor plug which is stored in a socket or well, the latter having two or more bimetallic fingers which are adapted to latch over a heating element cup on the ignitor plug when the latter is depressed, thereby completing a circuit through the heating element carried in the cup. After a short time interval, typically 10-15 seconds, the bimetal fingers spring outwardly under the influence of the heating of the coil, releasing the ignitor plug for partial ejection and indicating thereby to the user that the plug was ready for removal and use.
The employment of bimetallic fingers in cigar lighters has won wide acceptance over the years, and many different cigar lighter designs have been proposed and produced, as indicated by the great number of patents taken out. The reliability of bimetallic fingers is excellent in this use, even over extended periods of time involving thousands of repeated operations. It is considered very important that the positioning of these fingers be just right so as to provide the proper latching function, while at the same time enabling proper release of the heating element cup of the ignitor plug so as to provide adequate incandescence without danger of burnout.
Accordingly, great care is exercised in the positioning of the fingers when they are installed in the socket or well of the cigar lighter during manufacture. Similarly, during installation of the socket in the dashboard or other panel of the vehicle where the lighter is to be located, it is important that the initial positioning of the fingers not be disturbed in the least, since any undesirable bending could conceivably lead to malfunctioning of the lighter, or else cause other problems as when one of the bimetal fingers is bent into the path of the ignitor plug for improper contact therewith as the latter is depressed. Under such circumstance, there is the possibility of blown fuses or burned out wiring harnesses, and at the very least, permanent damage to the lighter assembly, necessitating replacement.
Generally cigar lighter sockets have a threaded thimble portion at the inner end, which is adapted to mate with a correspondingly threaded portion of a larger-diameter clamping shell having a similarly threaded end portion. The socket has an out-turned curl or flange which engages the front surface of the panel to which it is secured, and the clamping shell is applied from the rear, with the forward edge of the shell being intended to engage the rear surface of the vehicle panel. Over the years, such an arrangement has been found to be very satisfactory from the standpoint of economy of installation and ease of replacement, and has won wide acceptance in the automotive field.
In many instances, installation was accomplished by hand. One hand was employed to hold the socket in position from the front of the dashboard, with the other employed to impart turning movement to the clamping shell so that the cooperable threads of the two parts would engage. Then the shell was tightened by hand the proper amount to adequately secure the socket in position. In certain circumstances, particularly in the case of newer automobiles, access to the rear of the panel is usually difficult to achieve, mainly due to the large number of additional accessories that are being offered. Where a tool of some sort was employed in the past to grasp the socket, the bimetallic fingers sometimes became sprung, especially wih constructions where openings were stamped out in the sides of the socket and shell, to function for ventilation. Even where the socket was merely grasped by the fingers, there existed the danger that the bimetallic strips could be bent, possibly jeopardizing the proper operation of the device following installation.
Attempts to employ different tools of one sort or another in order to turn the socket from the front, through the mouth opening which receives the ignitor plug, often resulted in similar danger or damage to the bimetallic fingers. Moreover, in constructions employing lanced spring fingers in the socket, which were employed to bias the ignitor plug to a predetermined position, the adjustment of such fingers was also fairly critical, and damage represented a needless waste.